--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1900-1940
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Learn about the early 20th-century social thing called a Picture Bride by clicking on the links below.
You can watch the drama of a Picture Bride meeting below by watching from the 2'18 minute mark to the 4'03 mark. Unless you speak Japanese you will not be able to understand some of the dialogue but even without a translation, you can still see how the bride, Riyo, arrives in Hawaii with a photograph of her husband to be, Matsuji, that doesn't look much like the Matsuji she meets in person. I made some screen stills for you with the dialogue translated to help you understand, which are posted directly below the video.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1940-1980
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Migrants like Matsuji and Riyo, who settled in the United States and started families (people who would one day identify as Japanese-Americans) had a dramatic shift in status during World War II. Read about it below. Think of these things affecting 60-year old Matsuji and Riyo and their children and, possibly, their children's children. If you can't remember who Matsuji and Riyo are you can refresh your memory by scrolling up. Listen to the following four clips and read the link that follows
- Listen to and read about this little 25-minute story called "The Round-Up"
- Listen to and read about this little 25-minute story called "The Order"
- Listen to and read about this little 25-minute story called "Prison Cities"
- Listen to and read about this little 25-minute story called "Leaving Camp"
- Read through Executive Order 9066 - 1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1980-2010
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When World War II ended Japanese-Americans who were interned for the duration of the war were allowed to go back home. They did and resettled back into their lives. Below is a story about a man who got identified one night in a bar in Detroit as a Japanese American, but was actually Chinese-American.
- The story of Lily and (her son) Vincent (1955-1982)
- More on Lily and Vincent below
Pay attention to the date 1982 + contextualize it in the context of The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882
Vincent Chin was identified by Ronald Ebens and Michael Nitz as Japanese-American - or, perhaps, just as a Japanese person or a symbol for Japanese brand vehicles being sold in the United States, or, perhaps, just as a stranger or foreigner to the United States. He was actually Chinese-American. Vincent's dad fought in World War II and so won the right to bring a picture bride from China to the United States. Which he did. Vincent mom, Lily. And then the two of them adopted Vincent from China and the raised him from a few weeks old in Detroit as an American and Chinese-American.
Below you can get a quick little lesson on important U.S. policies that affected Chinese migrants and then later Chinese immigrants and Chinese-Americans. Think about when they happened in relation to the history of Japanese migration to the United States, as well as Executive Order 9066, posted above.